One of the things I’m interested in seeing in “Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance” is how the shooting style of Neveldine/Taylor, the directors of the film, adapts to something involving a character that is largely CGI-assisted.
After all, these are the guys who famously shoot their action sequences on roller skates, whose films have actually been diagnosed with ADD by a physician, and who love to throw as much random nasty nonsense as possible at the audience. When you’ve got a character that depends on a visual effect as much as Ghost Rider does, you need to shoot a certain way… or do you? You add 3D into the mix, and it sounds to me like a recipe for a class action lawsuit concerning motion sickness.
I’ll say this about the film. It looks like they’re serious about taking this in a very different direction than the first one, and knowing that Cage actually got to play the freaky flaming skeleton head version of the character this time is important. He really is Ghost Rider now, and not just Johnny Cage. In the first film, the Ghost Rider didn’t really have a strong sense of character. He felt like an effect. But in this one, Cage is the character the whole time. That helps.
I have a feeling I’m just not wired for Neveldine/Taylor films in general, though. I thought the first “Crank” was okay, but one joke stretched out to feature length, and I thought the sequel was flat-out awful. It’s excess for its own sake, and if that’s the joke that makes you laugh, more power to you. I don’t think it’s very interesting, though, and “Gamer” was so bad it made me wonder if I’d been too kind to “Crank” in hindsight. Will this prove to be the right match of filmmakers and material? I hope so. I’d love to actually enjoy one of their films and I’d love to see Cage’s continued interest in the material actually pay off in a good film.
For now, here’s the trailer…
… and, yes, you just watched a superhero piss fire. Enjoy your weekend.
“Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance” is in theaters February 17, 2012.